A day out to the Capel Fleet/ Harty Marshes area with Laurence Pitcher proved very sucessful, with all the Sheppey specials giving themselves up one by one. A classic winter days birding!
As we were walking down from Mockett's to the marshes, one of the area's Rough-legged Buzzards, a juvenile, hove into view at 1150. We had fantastic views at first as the bird circled at close range. Over the course of about 7 minutes observation the bird slowly gained height and drifted off North eventually being lost to sight over the Swale. What a cracker!
We saw at least 2 ringtailed Hen Harriers on the marshes, in fact there was usually one on show for what felt like most of the time today! Very close views were had.
A couple of Peregrines made frequent forays across the area. We witnessed some real life and death chases as one adult male laid into a flock of Starlings. This bird pulled some moves worthy of the Red Arrows, including an almost complete loop-the-loop, something i've never seen before.
Other great birds included 1 Short-eared Owl, up to 3 Barn Owls, 67 White-fronted Geese, and about 20 Marsh Harriers.
We had a quick look at Shellness at high tide and were rewarded with great views of roosting waders including, Knot, Dunlin, Grey Plover, Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher and Bar-tailed Godwits. Amongst the flock of the latter species was 1 full summer-plumaged bird!
Saturday, 31 January 2009
Monday, 26 January 2009
GREAT NORTHERN AT WALTHAMSTOW RES
Popped down to see the GND found on Saturday by Walthamstow regular Lol Bodini. The bird, a juv, showed very well on West Warwick, which also held 8 Goldeneye. An added bonus was a Water Rail swimming around in the margins like a strange phalarope! Other birds on the Southern group included, 2 Sparrowhawks, 52 Teal, 25+ Shoveler, 3 Shelduck and 20 Redwings.
GULLS AND GUINNESS IN GALWAY! 10TH-16TH JAN
Adult Iceland
Ring-billed doing the funky chicken
Ghostly 3rd winter Iceland
Friday, 9 January 2009
BITTERN !!!
It's up there!
Mark has a very small bittern perched on the end of his finger.......
OOP.. there it is!
Got a call from Mark around 11.30 saying a member of the public had reported a Bittern sat up a tree on the Lea Navigation by Springfield Marina! Surely bollocks says I. An hour later Iam watching a Bittern at crippling range. And yes, it is up a tree next to the Lea Navigation by Springfield Marina! What the............??!!
Amazing views were had of this strangely reptilian beauty as it sat about 20 feet up, right above our heads. The bird seemed completely unconcerned by people passing underneath to get to and from their boats. It's only worries seemed to be the occasional harrassment by crow, gull and....... pied wagtail! What a bird! What the fuck!???
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
WALTHAMSTOW RESERVOIRS
Goosander- male on No.5 res
'sinensis'- better than a kick in the gulars
Aythya weirdness
I covered the whole group today from 1100 til 1430. Cold, clear conditions with a light Northerly breeze. Most of the reservoirs were ice free except for No.2 and a bit of No.1. Highlights were drake Goosander on Lockwood, and a particularly confiding one on No.5, 2 Lapwing flying North over Lockwood, large numbers of Teal and 3 Jackdaws west over No.5.
Goosander 2
Goldeneye 9
Lapwing 2
Teal 112
Shoveler 10
Ruddy Duck 14
Jackdaw 3
Shelduck 5
GBBGull 3
Kingfisher 2
Sparrowhawk 1 imm.
Water Rail (calling from West Warwick)
Little Egret 1
Also of interest was this aythya duck on No.3 res shown in the photos above. The bird shows an obvious peaked crown but no crest, reminiscent of Ring-necked Duck or even Lesser Scaup. The bill seemed slightly broader than that of a Tufty. It was a very dark horn colour with a narrow grey subterminal band. The distal area beyond that, including the nail, was black. In some of the photos the nail appears pale. This is a trick of the light caused by water on the bill tip reflecting sunlight.
The cheeks of the bird showed a dark bronzey or purplish sheen. The undertail coverts were dirty white. It's obviously a hybrid but what the hell is it?? It looks like a Pochard was involved somewhere along the line. I'm going for Pochard x Lesser Scaup! Seriously though, I don't know a great deal about aythya hybrids so if anyone out there has any idea what this is please drop me a line or post on londonbirders forum; i'd be very grateful.
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